Soong Mei-ling, Chiang Kai-shek's fourth wife, was a key figure on the stage of the Republic of China, combining beauty, wealth, power, and honor. Mei Ling is keen and intelligent, the temperament is graceful and luxurious, has a high cultural education, and is proficient in piano, chess, books and paintings. In addition to her outstanding English skills, she can also speak six Chinese words, and is a diplomatic assistant of Chiang Kai-shek, who once sighed: "Madame's ability is worth 20 army divisions." ”
Mei Ling has been on the cover of Time magazine three times in her life, and she has conquered the world with her unique charm and become an object of admiration for countless people. However, the beautiful, intelligent, decent, and dignified Mei Ling had a bad habit that Chiang Kai-shek disliked very much. Ms. Guo, Mei Ling's personal aide-de-camp, once said: "Mei Ling has a special habit after getting up, and Chiang Kai-shek is very helpless and painful about this, and he can't stand it." ”
This bad habit is smoking. Why did Mei Ling become addicted to smoking?
Mei Ling became addicted to smoking in Chongqing during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. At that time, in order to avoid the bombing of the Japanese, she lived in the relatively humid underground air raid shelter of Huangshan Villa, and due to the frequent rain in Chongqing, she was very unaccustomed to the environment here, resulting in skin diseases and urticaria. At the time of the onset of the disease, the skin was extremely itchy and painful, and Mei Ling often stayed up all night for this reason.
One night, she suddenly found a female guard next to her with a pack of cigarettes in her pocket, and she had a sudden idea that she was going to take a sip on her mouth. Mei Ling, who had never smoked a cigarette, suddenly felt that the smell of this cigarette was very strange, and the itching pain on her body was suddenly alleviated a lot.
That night, after smoking a cigarette, she was tormented by urticaria for several days and nights, and she fell asleep and slept sweetly. In this way, from that night on, the beautiful and elegant Mei Ling learned to smoke.
After Mei Ling developed a special habit of smoking, she woke up from her dream every day, and when she woke up, she did not get up directly, always lying on the bed for a while, smoking a cigarette first, and letting her female adjutant Guo Sumei do leg presses for her. After pressing, she slowly got up, put on her morning gown, and then washed herself in the bathroom of the study and put on her own makeup.
When she already has a certain dependence on cigarettes, Mei Ling will smoke after getting up, develop a habit, and feel uncomfortable if she does not smoke. Everyone around Mei Ling knew she could smoke, but Chiang Kai-shek didn't know. Because in the Huangshan Villa, Chiang Kai-shek lived in the Yunxiu Building, and Mei Ling lived in the "Song Hall", which was about 100 meters away. And Chiang Kai-shek and Mei Ling did not have daily contact, so Chiang Kai-shek did not understand the problem of smoking in Mei Ling, who was close at hand.
Until one day, Mei Ling's smoking was discovered by Chiang Kai-shek, and he was very helpless about it, and he said bitterly: It is unbearable.
One day, Chiang Kai-shek walked into Mei Ling's "Pine Hall" and suddenly smelled a pungent smell of smoke. "What's going on?!" He hurriedly inquired about the reason, only to find that it was Mei Ling who was smoking.
Chiang Kai-shek did not smoke, not only did he not smoke, but he hated smoking, and the smell of smoke was very uncomfortable, and his subordinates never dared to smoke in front of him. During the negotiations in Chongqing, the chairman, who was very addicted to smoking, learned that Chiang Kai-shek hated smoking and did not smoke a cigarette during his talks with him. Chiang Kai-shek sighed from this: "It is no wonder that he can become my strongest opponent, this person cannot be underestimated." ”
When Chiang Kai-shek found out that Mei Ling was addicted to smoking, he was very unhappy, very sorry, and very painful. He had tried to persuade Mei Ling to make up his mind to quit smoking, but when Mei Ling's attendant told Chiang Kai-shek that "his wife was addicted to smoking because she had to smoke after she fell ill", Chiang Kai-shek couldn't help but feel sad again. He felt helpless about this.
Although Mei Ling knew that Chiang Kai-shek hated smoking from her heart and knew that smoking was extremely detrimental to her body, she still could not quit the cigarettes that she regarded as "good products" at that time. This habit did not change until her later years.